Look to Scandinavia

Should the rest of the world look to Scandinavian neonatal intensive care? In this special supplement, Scandinavian and international clinicians and bioethicists present, compare, and discuss the legislation, national guidelines, consensus documents, and practices in the field of neonatal care in Scandinavia. The central questions that bind these contributions together are whether there is a unified Scandinavian medicoethical approach or if, why, and how health care systems that seem to represent the same still differ in ethically significant ways. This supplement thus offers the reader an insight into the Scandinavian approach(es) and the lessons that can be learned.

The Scandinavian countries, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, have many similarities. Solidarity, equality, and freedom form the ideological basis for Scandinavian politics. The common social democratic political tradition in all 3 societies emphasize that citizens not only should be given obligations and rights but also should be enabled economically and socially by the state to fulfill their obligations and exercise their rights.

In this way, solidarity …

Address correspondence to Lars Ursin, PhD, Department of Public Health and Nursing, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Oya helsehus, Mauritz Hansens gate 11, Trondheim, Norway. E-mail: lars.ursin{at}ntnu.no